Advances in computer technology and software have made possible the generation of richly featured virtual characters capable of simulating interactivity with a human viewer of the virtual character. The illusion of interactivity can be further enhanced when the virtual character is displayed as a three-dimensional (3D) image, apparently independent of the display system generating it. For example, the image of the virtual character may be shown as a holographic image, or may be shown as an image that appears to float in space. However, conventional techniques for displaying holographic or floating images typically utilize sophisticated optical arrays to project the image for viewing, which can limit the environments and use cases in which providing such 3D imagery is practical.